Air cleaner



A. CHAMPION Jan. 12, 1932.

AIR CLEANER Filed Sept. 2, 1927 gnvewtoz 0 6 6221mm flttoz mqo atented den. 12, 1232 rrtc 1:2 n ION, or rmnr, MICHIGAN, assrenon re A c srann ra e oonrm,

OFFLINE, MICHIGAN, A COMPANY OF MICHIGAN Application filed September 2, 1927. Serial No. 217,287.

This invention relates to air cleaners and, although my air cleaner is intended primarily for use on the air intake of a carburetor, it is obviously not limited to such a restricted use.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved two piece air cleaner.

It is another object of the invention to provide an air cleaner which includes a one piece shroud and vane cup.

When an air cleaner is secured to the air intake conduit of the carburetor of an internal combustion engine, it is generally in such a position that the current of air caused by the fan impinges against it. Since the amount of dirt and size of dirt particles which can be carried by a current of air increase with the velocity, the current of air set up by the fan will carry more and larger dirt particles to the cleaner than an equal volume of air which is brought to the cleaner merely by the suction of the engine. If the intake orifice of the cleaner is in such a position that the current of air set up by the fan can enter it directly, the air which enters the cleaner will carry into it an excess of dirt. If, however, the intake orifice of the cleaner is turned away from the current of air so that the air has to turn a corner to get into the cleaner, part of the dirt will be lost due to the loss of velocity in turning the corner and due to the greater inertia of the dirt particles which tend to keep on in a straight line. The position of the air intake orifice in an ordinary air cleaner which isused to clean the air supplied to the carburetor of an internal combustion engine is determined by the position of the air intake conduit of the carburetor and consequently it is generally impossible to change the position of theair intake orifice of the cleaner without changing the position of the air intake conduit of the carburetor. In any event, it is impossible to change the direction of the air intake orifice of an ordinary air cleaner without mounting it in a difi'erent position and in many cases this change in position of mounting cannot be accomplished without considerable difiiculty. It is desirable, therefore, to have an air cleaner which can be mounted in any vertical, horizontal or inclined position and still have its air intake orifice shelded from direct entry of an outside current of air.

It is an object of this invention to provide an air cleaner which can be mounted in any horizontal, vertical orinclined position and still have its air intake orifice shielded from direct entry of an outside current of air.

Other objects of the invention will appear an in side elevation, with parts broken away and as in section, installed on the intake conduit of a carburetor.

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

The reference character 5 indicates a caras buretor and 6 a conduit leading from the air cleaner 7 to the carburetor. The air cleaner consists of two parts, a main body portion 8,

' and a combined shroud and vane cup 9.

The main body portion 8 is frusto-conical in shape and is provided at its smaller end with an integrally formed closure 10 having an opening 11 therein to receive the end of the conduit 6. Extending around the greater part of the circumference of the opening 11 so and integral with the closure 10 is a collar 12. For a portion of its circumference the collar is separated from the closure 11, as indicated at 13. Intermediate the ends of this separated portion, the collar is split and the free ends of the tongues thus formed bent outwardly to provide the lugs 14. A bolt 15 isinserted through perforations in the lugs and a nut 16 screwed on the threaded end of the bolt. It is obvious that upon screwing the nut up on the bolt the collar will be drawn tightly around the conduit and firmly secure the cleaner'to the conduit. Adjacent the smaller. end of the main body portion,

the side wall of the cleaner is provided with 95 a tangential opening 23 for the discharge of the dust removed from the air.

The combined shroud and vane cup Q is cylindrical in shape, is closed at one endfias indicated at 17, and is provided at its ether end with an outwardly extending circumferential flange 18 which is clamped between the outwardly extending circumferential flange 19 and the crimped portion 20 thereof on the larger end of the main body portion 8 and thus secured to the main body portion.

The side wall of the shroud 9 is provided for a distance not exceeding half of its circumference with inwardly directed struck out vanes 21 and adjacent openings 22, leaving the side wall unbroken for at least a continuous half of its circumference.

In the operation of the cleaner, the air which is sucked in by the carburetor passes first through the openings 22 in the shroud and then impinges on the vanes 21 which give it a rotary motion. This causes the dirt to be thrown outwardly against the wall of the cleaner and finally pass out through the tangential opening 23. lhe clean air continues through the opening 11 into the conduit 6 and finally into the carburetor.

Bymeans of the shroud 9, the air is prevented from entering the end of the body directly and must enter through the openings 22. The construction of the cleaner is simplified very much by forming the vanes 21, which give the air the rotary motion necessary to remove the dirt therefrom on the shroud instead of on a separate member. It is obvious that regardless of whether the cleaner is used in a vertical, horizontal or inclined position, after the nut 16 is loosened, the openings in the shroud can always be rotated to such a position that any given current of air, such as that caused by the engine fan, cannot enter directly into them. For this reason the air entering the cleaner will carry less dirt than if the current of air from the fan blew directly into the intake orifice. It is obvious that the cleaner can, if desired, be constructed so that the shroud can be rotated without rotating the whole cleaner by making the joint between it and the main body portion loose enough to allow independent rotation of the shroud.

claim:

1. In an air cleaner, a one piece main body portion having an air discharge orifice, and a one piece shroud having air intake openings and struck-out vanesadjacent the openings in a side wall thereof.

2. In an air cleaner, a main body portion having an air discharge orifice at one end, a cup-shaped shroud closing the other end, said shroud having air intake openings and vanes adjacent the openings in a side wall thereof, the side wall being continuously un broken for one-half the circumference of the shroud.

3. An air cleaner including a main body portion having side and end walls, the end Wall having an air discharge orifice therein and a collar around the discharge orifice adapted to fit around a conduit, the side wall aeaaeea having a dirt discharge orifice therein adjacent the end having the discharge orifice, a cup-shaped shroud closing the other end of the main body portion, said shroud having a side wall continuously unbroken for one-half of its circumference and having air intake openings and vanes adjacent the openings.

4. An air cleaner including a housing having end and side walls, an air discharge opening in an end wall, and air intake openings and adjacent vanes so arranged in a side wall of the air cleaner that when the cleaner is mounted on the air intake conduit of a device to be supplied with air it may be ad justed, without "removing it from the-conduit, to position the air intake openings therein so that they are shielded from direct entry of any outside air current.

5. The invention claimed in claim 4:, in which the air intake openings extend only partially around the circumference of the cleaner so as to leave continuously unbroken a substantial portion of the circumference thereof.

6. In an air cleaner, a main body portion. open at one end'and having in the opposite end thereof an air discharge opening, and a shroud closing the open end of the main body portion and having in a side Wall thereof air intake openings and adjacent vanes, said openings and vanes extending only partially around the circumference thereof so as to leave a substantial portion of the circumference continuously unbroken.

7. In an air cleaner, a main body portion open at one end, and a shroud closing the open end or" the main body portion and having in a side wall thereof air intake openings and adjacent vanes, said openings and vanes extending only partially around the circumference thereof so as to leave a substantial portion of the circumference continuously unbroken.

8. In an air cleaner, a main body portion open at one end, and a shroud closing the open end of the main body portion and having in a side wall thereof air intake openings and adjacent struck-out vanes, said openings and vanes extending around only one-half of the circumference thereoi so as to leave the other half of the circumference cohtinuously unbroken.

9. In an air cleaner, a housing having a side wall thereof a series of intake openings and adjacent vanes, said openings and vanes extending only partially around the circumference of the cleaner so as to leave a substantial portion of the circumference thereof continuously unbroken.

10. An air cleaner ended body portion, a cupshaped shroud which functions as a closure for the open end of the body portion and is so connected to the body portion that it may be rotated with respect thereto, air intake openings so arranged which includes an open- 

